


Waiting

by AndWeMutate



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst with a Happy Ending, Car Accidents, Established Relationship, M/M, Near Death Experiences, hit and run
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 03:44:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9530141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndWeMutate/pseuds/AndWeMutate
Summary: "He's shouting before he realizes it. He's calling Kise an idiot, telling him to wake up, telling him to open his goddamn eyes. He's not asking. He's demanding. And yet, despite the severity of his words, he's crying. Aomine is crying, begging Kise to open his eyes."Kise is in a devastating accident and Aomine is beside him all the while, waiting for the man he loves to open his eyes. Waiting, waiting...





	

**Author's Note:**

> Another oldie. This was is about...2 and a half years old now. I have a weird attachment to this particular piece and I have no idea why.

He takes a long drag on his cigarette and as the smoke leaks from pursed lips, a sad chuckle leaves him. The blond he loves would hate this, he thought, the fact that he was smoking. He'd apologize over and over again for picking up this dirty habit but it was the only thing that stopped his hands from shaking. Each time he lit a cigarette, he could see a frown and amber eyes. Each time he guided that cigarette to his lips, he saw those puffed out cheeks, that pout. It never stops hurting and as much as Aomine Daiki knows he was disappointing the man he loved, he can’t stop. 

Even though he knows Kise would discourage him for smoking, he can't hear the disappointment in his voice, he can't see the sadness in eyes. None of this could reach Aomine because Kise hasn't moved or hasn't spoken a single word in almost a week now. Five days, the longest five days of the tanned man's life. The blond who maintained his boyish charm and his pristine beauty into his early twenties hasn't opened his eyes in five days and by his side, Aomine waited for five days, hoping for that beautiful smile to light up the world that had fallen into such darkness.

They live together and have been for a few years. Dating since high school, in love for longer than that, the two made a life with one another. After graduation, when things should have been difficult, when their relationship could have been torn asunder, they clenched their jaws and fought against the raging tide, remaining afloat and as strong as ever. They went to college, they made love, they shared coffee in the morning and argued over what television shows to watch at night. They argued, they yelled at one another, but no matter how far they pushed one another away, they always found their way back to each other. That's what love was to Kise, to Aomine. Regardless of how jealous Aomine was of the plethora of boys and girls who fawned over Kise's still active modeling career, regardless of how annoyed Kise became at his lover's still arrogant nature at times, the two were still in love. It was simple to both of them. 

Nothing made more sense to either of them than their love, as confusing and beautiful as it was. 

Even now, when pain radiates through Aomine's body, when his heart aches and his hands feel cold, he holds on to that love tightly, almost as tightly as the cigarette that was now at his feet, its final embers dying under Aomine's sneaker.

He unwillingly remembers that night as it begins to rain outside of the hospital.

It was a chilly November evening. Aomine remembers it well. Kise had a modeling gig after class but he and Aomine had planned to meet up at their favorite little cafe afterwards for a bite to eat, then they'd walk home together. This wasn't anything abnormal for the two. They went to different universities but they met in the middle each and every night. But tonight, Kise was running late. He texted Aomine with one of his silly little emotes, apologizing for the delay and telling him that he loved him, like he always did. In almost every other way, the tanned man was impatient and he always had been, but when it came to Kise, things were different. So, he waited.

And he waited.

And he waited.

An hour and a half had passed. The cafe was closed and its owner long gone, yet Aomine still stood outside of it, hand buried in his pocket with his fingers wrapped around his phone. Cars passed and rain fell, Aomine standing under the cafe's awning. Shit, Kise didn't bring an umbrella, did he? He never thought ahead that far. Just as the blue haired man tugged out his phone, he heard a voice, a familiar voice that made him look up without hesitation. On the other side of the crosswalk stood the blond, panting, wearing that stupid smile of his. 

In that moment, everything slowed. Time stood still. Life as Aomine knew it came to a screeching halt.

The moment passes in a series of blurs; Kise runs across the street, arm waving, calling out to the love of his life. The blaring horn. The lights. The sounds of tires against sleek asphalt. The soft pitter patter of the rain. 

Without warning, without cause, everything Aomine knows is stolen from him. 

The driver was drunk, easily going seventy miles an hour. The driver doesn't acknowledge the red light, doesn't stop. He doesn't even attempt to stop. What he does instead is strike the blond, his body no match for the weight of the car and its velocity. The blond is sent hurdling forward, his body making unforgiving contact with the wet street below, the street he'd traveled time and time and time again. His body stops moving but the car doesn't, not for long. The car's driver sees the damage done and, wide-eyed, he takes the left at the intersection and disappears.

Aomine couldn't move. He thinks he called out for Kise but he can't quite remember. His throat is raw so he must have. The realization hits him and it hits him hard and as the car zooms off, Aomine goes running. Not after the car but to the side of the man he loves. 

Kise's not moving. He's barely breathing. There's blood in places where there shouldn't be blood. Not on Kise. Aomine's hands are shaking when he reaches forward and touches his face, saying Kise's given name over and over again. He's shouting before he realizes it. He's calling Kise an idiot, telling him to wake up, telling him to open his goddamn eyes. He's not asking. He's demanding. And yet, despite the severity of his words, he's crying. Aomine is crying, begging Kise to open his eyes.

Kise doesn't listen.

A small crowd gathers, umbrellas forming a lopsided circle around the two. No one makes a move for their cell phones. No one calls for help. Aomine is angry but he can't be angry, not now. Kise's blood on his hands, he takes out his cell phone and dials the police, yelling until his voice all but disappears. He needs an ambulance, he says. There's been a hit and run, he says. Kise won't wake up, he says.

The car was green, he tells the police officer as Kise is loaded into the ambulance. Aomine makes it known that he won't be leaving the blond's side. He climbs into the ambulance and he holds Kise's hand the entire way, telling him that it's going to be okay. He's not moving. 

It's okay, angel face. It's okay. Just open your eyes, okay? 

After a while, he doesn't know if he's telling Kise this because it's the truth or because he needs to believe that it's the truth. 

Aomine isn't allowed in the emergency room with Kise and Aomine is livid. He's still crying but he's yelling too. The doctors are firm with the blue haired man and tell him that the situation is dire and they need to tend to Kise now. So, Aomine submits as the doctors rush off. He paces back and forth and forth and back. He punches the wall of the waiting room and he bites the inside of his cheek so hard that he tastes blood. The rain outside still falls and before his eyes, Aomine continues to replay what happened. He sees the green car and he sees Kise's smile illuminated by the car's headlights. He sees all of this and yet he is helpless to stop it. He sees Kise's bag and its contents tossed aside carelessly, just as carelessly as Kise's body was. He sees red, a color that made Kise's skin look so pale. 

He sees all of these things before his eyes and he can't stop crying.

That was five days ago. Kise is in a coma, the doctors tell him, and they don't know how much longer until he wakes up or if he will wake up at all. Every night, they argue with Aomine, telling him that visiting hours are over but the blue haired man refuses to leave. He sits at Kise's bedside and he talks to him. He talks to him about everything; their past, games at Teikou, the first time Kise told Aomine that he loved him. Aomine tells Kise all of these things while holding his hand, tanned fingers gently brushing against a pale palm. The only sound in the room to accompany Aomine's voice is the steady beeping of the machine, letting him know that the blond was still alive. 

He misses Kise's smile. He misses Kise's laugh. He misses the way that Kise pouts when he doesn't get his way, misses the way that his cheeks puff out when he's angry. He misses those amber eyes. There isn't a thing about Kise that Aomine doesn't miss. In a hushed tone, Aomine continues to ask the love of his life to open his eyes. There's still so much life left to live, Aomine tells Kise. He can't go just yet. 

Kise is fighting and Aomine knows this. He knows that the blond is trying his damnedest to come back from that terrible place he's in and Aomine feels powerless. He can't help Kise where he is. Aomine is scared and he hates being scared. The blond is fighting a war inside himself and there is nothing the blue haired man can do. He's a bystander. He's a witness. As Aomine holds Kise's hand, he hurts and he cries and he begs but he knows that nothing he does can reach Kise where he is. 

The sun rises and the sun sets as if nothing in the world is amiss. Aomine's entire universe has been flipped upside down and yet the rest of the world continues to spin. Five days quickly becomes seven and then nine. Nine days since Aomine has heard Kise's voice. The blue haired man has only been back to their apartment once, only leaving the blond for a few hours to get some clothes, to eat a proper meal, but he doesn't like being in the apartment. It's lonely and it's cold. Without Kise, it's not a home. Aomine has been practically living at the hospital and all of the nurses know him by name. They offer him support and they try to smile, even though Aomine sees that their hope is slowly wearing thin.

Kise's breathing is steady. It's around two in the morning but Aomine can't be sure. He's whispering to Kise, stroking the pad of his thumb against the top of the blond's hand. He tells Kise that the hospital food tastes like crap and once Kise wakes up, they're going to get a real fancy dinner somewhere, Aomine's treat. He wears a smile as he tells the love of his life that he's going to buy him a puppy and that he's going to let him choose what they watch on television every night for the rest of their lives, no matter what's on. He tells Kise that he's going to marry him, make an honest man out of him, and that he's going to take him somewhere tropical and make love to him on the beach. He tells him all of these things and before he realizes it, Aomine's crying again. Tears roll down his cheeks as he refers to the blond as 'Ryouta', telling him that he loves him, telling him that he misses him, telling him th--

Aomine gasps. Through the tears in his eyes, he sees that the blond's lips have twitched into a small smile and he feels pale fingers squeezing his hand just enough for a spark to travel through Aomine. Kise's throat is dry and his voice doesn't sound like his own, but he asks Daiki if that's a promise. Aomine doesn't know which part Kise is referring to, but he nods over and over, telling Kise that yes, yes, all of it was true, each and every part of it. 

He's sobbing when he begins shouting for a nurse, a doctor, anyone. Kise's smile fades and he, in that soft voice, asks why Aomine is crying. Before he gets his answer, the doctor and a handful of nurses pile into the room and nudge Aomine aside. They tend to Kise, whose eyes are slightly glassy and focused solely on Aomine, the man he loves, the man who is still crying. 

Kise never did find out why Aomine was crying that night. 

It takes time but Kise recovers. The scratches and bruises fade and with rehabilitation, he begins to function normally. Aomine never leaves his side. Not once. The blond asks over and over again exactly what happened that night because he knows Aomine is truthful and blunt, but Kise never receives the full story. It always arrives in bits and pieces, as if it's too painful to remember, so Kise stops asking. It's not important. 

After a few weeks, Aomine is finally allowed to bring Kise home with a laundry list of do's and don't's. They don't need to worry; Aomine intends to take care of the blond. Kise sometimes has trouble remembering where he left his cell phone but Aomine is always there to help him look for it. Kise sometimes feels a little dizzy but Aomine is always there to lend him a shoulder. 

Once Kise's feeling up to it, Aomine takes him out for that fancy dinner and spoils the blond rotten. 

A month later, Aomine comes home with a puppy, a bright yellow ribbon tied around its neck.

From the day Kise arrived home, the remote for the television is always in the blond's hand, no matter what. 

Three months after the blond is released from the hospital,, Kise finds Aomine down on one knee, asking him to marry him.

Five months after that, the two exchange vows in front of family and friends and they honeymoon somewhere bright, somewhere sunny, and Aomine makes love to his husband all across the shoreline. 

The blue haired man holds on tightly to the love of his life each and every night, burying his face into the crook of his neck. The blond idly strokes strands of blue and he thinks about how lucky he is. He thinks about how he almost lost not only his life, but the precious man in his arms. He sees that Aomine is scared, never letting Kise cross the street alone. Since then, he sees that Aomine is worried that Kise may try and leave him again. But, Kise knows that Aomine has nothing to worry about. Kise fought hard to come back to Aomine and he won that battle. 

Aomine stops smoking after Kise is released from the hospital. His hands no longer shake. He still apologizes to Kise for ever starting but Kise just smiles.


End file.
